Executive Corner, Part VI

Business and Marketing Planning: Failing to Plan is Planning to Fail

By Jeff Hine, IPED, The Channel Company

Planning is a discipline many solution providers struggle with. Your business move so fast; your customers demand immediate satisfaction. Taking the time to develop a vision for the future and write down a plan often takes a backseat to close the quarter or responding to a new RFP...

The Science of Social Selling, Part IX

3 Ways to Lead the Digital Revolution Without Having a Full-Time Social Department

By Theresa Caragol, AchieveUnite

This is our last post in our social selling blog series. We've covered a lot of ground and with some luck, inspired you to begin your own social selling journey. As a wrap-up, I thought I'd share with you the three most important things...

Executive Corner, Part V

Cloud is a Top Priority for Solution Providers

By Jeff Hine, IPED, The Channel Company

Solution providers state that growing their cloud practice is one of their top four initiatives to improve their business in 2019, according to IPEDs Partner Enablement Study. Services strategy is tied closely to cloud success. Building cloud skills and bundling services in cloud engagements...

The Science of Social Selling, Part VIII

5 Social Selling Traps that Jeopardize Your Best New Customers

By Theresa Caragol, AchieveUnite

Because most of you will be using LinkedIn as your first social selling channel, I thought I'd offer some thoughts on things to avoid when building your network there. As sales professionals, most of this is common sense, but it's good to have...

Executive Corner, Part IV

Managed Services Emerge as the New Solution Provider Growth Engine

By Jeff Hine, IPED, The Channel Company

Few trends have impacted the solution provider business more than the shift to recurring revenue. Driven by changes in IT consumption, you and your peers have had to adjust to a new model where consumers rent capacity...

The Science of Social Selling, Part VII

SEO and Your Partner — 3 Keys to Social Selling Success in the Era of the Global Search Engine

By Theresa Caragol, AchieveUnite

Right now, your audience is searching the Internet for products and services just like yours. Are you making the best moves to help them find you? Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is a well-documented science that makes it easier for your audience...

Executive Corner, Part III

Show Me The Money — How to Build a Profitable Solution Provider Model

By Jeff Hine, IPED, The Channel Company

You've likely seen a dramatic shift over the past decade in the makeup of your sales. Projects are shifting from heavy product content to service-led more complex solutions. Trying to cut through the hype around this...

The Science of Social Selling, Part VI

Get the Impossible Meeting — 3 Value Props CXOs Love to Hear

By Theresa Caragol, AchieveUnite

Getting meetings with CXOs is critical to business development. However, with the many unsolicited emails CXOs receive every day, not counting the many phone calls, getting time with them can be challenging. Worse, they're reluctant to take...

Executive Corner, Part II

Why You Need to Retool Your Sales Training

By Jeff Hine, IPED, The Channel Company

As IT consumption has evolved from a product transaction to an as-a-service model, so too has the way solution provider sales teams engage with customers. No longer can solution providers set themselves apart purely with...

The Science of Social Selling, Part V

A Social Post Is Worth a Thousand Leads

By Theresa Caragol, AchieveUnite

Here's one of my favorite tools for high-performance social selling: content syndication. In the simplest terms, content syndication gives your social stories maximum exposure by using paid third-party publishers...

Executive Corner, Part I

Benchmarking Your Business for Success

By Jeff Hine, IPED, The Channel Company

As you grow your business, it's difficult to cut through the vendor noise about what they want you to do and translate the barrage of hype into meaningful action. As an analyst who talks with solution providers...

The Science of Social Selling, Part IV

Your Customers Want Your Brand Story, Not Your Price List

By Theresa Caragol, AchieveUnite

In my experience, great brand stories beat "speeds and feeds" stories every time. If you're an engaging storyteller, you're going to close more business. It's that simple. Customers want to buy from companies with the same values they have. To get there, you need a captivating story.

The Science of Social Selling, Part III

5 Ways to Make Your Social Posts Irresistible

By Theresa Caragol, AchieveUnite

In an ever-changing sales landscape, mainatining a healthy personal brand on social media has become a necessary tool for sales professionals to build and maintain relationships...

The Science of Social Selling, Part II

3 Reasons Why You Should Prioritize Social Selling

By Theresa Caragol, AchieveUnite

While your kids binge on Netflix, your channel customers should be binging on your content. After all, 41% of B2B buyers consume three to five pieces of content online before...

The Science of Social Selling, Part I

How Social Selling Can Help You Hit Your Quota

By Theresa Caragol, AchieveUnite

Social selling has made it to the channel — and it's changing the business of your business right before your eyes. Social selling has become main street...